Laine 11th career hatty vs BUF

[MoneyManny]

No. The Montreal pick. The implication of Laine possibly costing the Habs draft position should have been obvious.

If Laine was enough of a factor to propel this garbage team forward like that, he'd be worth a lot more than that pick.

 

[MoneyManny]

It’s just a little strange that after years of Habs fans espousing the virtue of doing a rebuild organically and valuing draft picks like gold to suddenly pivot and throw support behind an infidel who can derail the “proper” rebuild.

Happy for Laine though. He went through a lot. And it’s nice to finally see that the Habs have the player that Caufield should have been.

Caufield is playing great. He's definitely a lot better than what y'all thought he would be. Your "should have been" is hugely hypocritical.

And only successul rebuilds are derailed by victory. If we could only be so lucky.

 

[Frank Drebin]

We need the extra emoji for Habs threads

 

[Lshap]

The thing of it is, they need a proper center. Those go high in the draft. That’s why falling might be painful. Cant even criticize them for not taking Wright. Cooley might have been nice though. But they need a top 6 center. The higher draft pick would be a big help.

Learning to win games is the ultimate goal of a rebuild. Drafting higher is the consolation prize. There's nothing painful about watching Montreal's young roster slowly making progress.

As for centers, Montreal has a great looking prospect in Michael Hage. He may or may not become a top-6 C, but the same is true for any draft pick.

 

[abax44]

Lots of room to do Laine things when you're 5 on 3 (2 goals were 5 on 3). That shot though... yeesh. We were at the game in Winnipeg just waiting for him to tee one up like that.

 

[Zhamnov5GoalGame]

With Winnipeg Jets, on the powerplay, I always felt like both Scheifele and Wheeler intentionally avoided passing to Laine in such spots(btw many others Finnish fans felt the same even though Jets fans thought we were hallucinating) but seems like when you do pass to Laine, it might end well. Who knew?

Wheeler has a ton of assists from passing to Laine in that spot on the PP.
The bigger issue was early on he wasn't even on the top PP (garbage) and rarely played with Scheifele 5 on 5. Teams also started to way over cheat on Laine and that seam which opened the door for Scheif and Connor to score more.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Lots of room to do Laine things when you're 5 on 3 (2 goals were 5 on 3). That shot though... yeesh. We were at the game in Winnipeg just waiting for him to tee one up like that.

He had 7 shots on goal that game , Helley knew all his go to's

 

[LevelingSolo]

Always was a good player if healthy which is never

 

[Fogelhund]

He has six goals..... all on the powerplay.

Three goals 5 v 4, Three goals 5 v 3

The Habs are being outshot 49 to 22 and outscored 5 to 1, at 5v5 with him on the ice. On ice expected goals 27%.

Scoring on the PP is good, no doubt. Being terrible at 5v5 hockey isn't good.

 

[amnesiac]

He has six goals..... all on the powerplay.

Three goals 5 v 4, Three goals 5 v 3

The Habs are being outshot 49 to 22 and outscored 5 to 1, at 5v5 with him on the ice. On ice expected goals 27%.

Scoring on the PP is good, no doubt. Being terrible at 5v5 hockey isn't good.

jesus, can we maybe wait a bit given that he hadnt played a game in almost a full calendar year? was very slow to start, and is considerably better now.

Also thats a reflection of the team as a whole. Its not like they were much better 5 on 5 when he wasnt playing.

 

[Fogelhund]

jesus, can we maybe wait a bit given that he hadnt played a game in almost a full calendar year? was very slow to start, and is considerably better now.

Also thats a reflection of the team as a whole. Its not like they were much better 5 on 5 when he wasnt playing.

I mean, his off ice expected goals is 46.4%... so his differential is 18.5%.... which is substantial.

I can appreciate being patient, but the guy is also a career -63, and hasn't been very good 5v5 for most of his career. He's decent at scoring goals, he's excellent at scoring PP goals. If Montreal wants success with him, they are really going to need to shelter him 5v5, even once he's established.

 

[amnesiac]

I mean, his off ice expected goals is 46.4%... so his differential is 18.5%.... which is substantial.

I can appreciate being patient, but the guy is also a career -63, and hasn't been very good 5v5 for most of his career. He's decent at scoring goals, he's excellent at scoring PP goals. If Montreal wants success with him, they are really going to need to shelter him 5v5, even once he's established.

Fine, but personally I dont even see them signing him long term.... Too risky given his injury history, and maybe passed his prime when theyre set to be contenders.

Plus, theyre going to have more expensive RFA contracts to worry about like Hutson and Demidov. Laine probably wont be signing short term at a discount in his UFA year. Like anyone hes going to want to make as much as possible.

Id let him walk, and worry about expensive UFAs when theyre contenders (which wont be soon)

 

[Fogelhund]

Fine, but personally I dont even see them signing him long term.... Too risky given his injury history, and maybe passed his prime when theyre set to be contenders.

Plus, theyre going to have more expensive RFA contracts to worry about like Hutson and Demidov. Laine probably wont be signing short term at a discount in his UFA year. Like anyone hes going to want to make as much as possible.

Id let him walk, and worry about expensive UFAs when theyre contenders (which wont be soon)

Pump his value the next year and a bit, give him all of the PP time, shelter him, and flip him for an asset, to a contender looking for some scoring help.

I'm a Leafs fan, but I think Montreal does have some nice young players, but really need a top C in this draft. If they can draft Misa for example, it's a big help.

 

[amnesiac]

Pump his value the next year and a bit, give him all of the PP time, shelter him, and flip him for an asset, to a contender looking for some scoring help.

I'm a Leafs fan, but I think Montreal does have some nice young players, but really need a top C in this draft. If they can draft Misa for example, it's a big help.

yep totally agree. Would be the piece they need.... I wouldnt be mad if its Schaffer and McKenna in 2026

 

[Fogelhund]

yep totally agree. Would be the piece they need.... I wouldnt be mad if its Schaffer and McKenna in 2026

I think you guys should start performing better next year. I don't think you'll draft high enough to get those guys in 26'... I think this is the year for you guys to suck.

 

[amnesiac]

I think you guys should start performing better next year. I don't think you'll draft high enough to get those guys in 26'... I think this is the year for you guys to suck.

Offense should improve with Demidov coming over, and then guys like Hutson will be a year older, as well as Slafkovsky etc.

But the defence is still too young, imo, and will be near the bottom of the league again in terms of GA. Really depends how much the offense can improve overall. If Dach and Newhook are bad again, I foresee another lottery pick.

 

[Miller Time]

It’s just a little strange that after years of Habs fans espousing the virtue of doing a rebuild organically and valuing draft picks like gold to suddenly pivot and throw support behind an infidel who can derail the “proper” rebuild.

Happy for Laine though. He went through a lot. And it’s nice to finally see that the Habs have the player that Caufield should have been.

It's not strange at all, it's what a rebuild actually looks like.

Opportunistic asset management that is in line with roster needs without interfering or, ideally as in the case of Laine now and Monahan last 2 years, actually supports internal progression & development opportunities for the young core, is what an excellent rebuild approach looks like.

Far from detailing anything, this acquisition, like the Monahan one, was a masterstroke of effective management.

Most informed hockey fans understand that.

 

[Mulletman]

Good for him! Getting a standing O as we speak.

Told @thebus88 that this is the way you should book Laine on the powerplay all those years that Laine wasted away in Columbus. But he didn't listen! He didn't listen! Take a look at the first goal. All 4 other Montreal players were hustling while Laine just stood there waiting for the shot!

 

[Bender Duster]

Yeah, actually. It was Byfuglien and Scheifele. Wheeler was looking for Laine sometimes, but those are all cross-formation passes, and not the correct default way to set up Laine, which should be done via the defenseman in that formation, or by the shooter(Scheifele). Cross-formation passes shouldn't be a default option, but more situational, taking advantage of temporary lapses.

I watched all 44 of Laine's goals this season, and Laine has scored more such one timer goals this year for Montreal than he did all 17-18 season for Jets. Scheifele, of course, was never looking for him. He only had 1 assist that I could see, and he probably just passed to Laine by accident since I think that one was a blind pass. I bet he wouldn't have passed if he had noticed that it was Laine. Byfuglien, I think, only had 2 proper one time passes to Laine, so 2 out of 44 goals. Watch Ovechkin and the Caps play that power play and Carlson sets Ovechkin up for the one timer more times in one game than Byfuglien did Laine all season.

Ummm....

Laine's first two powerplay goals in 2017-18 were both assisted by Scheifele (and Buff and Wheeler lol).

Jets 4-3 Wild (Oct 20, 2017) Box Score - ESPN

Box score for the Winnipeg Jets vs. Minnesota Wild NHL game from October 20, 2017 on ESPN. Includes all goals, assists and penalty minutes stats.

www.espn.com

The Jets entire powerplay for the first three years of Laine's career was built on setting Laine up for the one timer...and yes, he scored a ton of awesome goals just like he did last night. That's why he led the league in PP goals that season.

No point in making stuff up.

 

[Golden_Jet]

If I do another 50 in 50 watch thread will that troll stomper guy get mad at me again? When can I reopen the original?

lol sure, if they only play Buffalo every game and are on the PP.

 

[Romang67]

Ummm....

Laine's first two powerplay goals in 2017-18 were both assisted by Scheifele (and Buff and Wheeler lol).

Jets 4-3 Wild (Oct 20, 2017) Box Score - ESPN

Box score for the Winnipeg Jets vs. Minnesota Wild NHL game from October 20, 2017 on ESPN. Includes all goals, assists and penalty minutes stats.

www.espn.com

View attachment 947581

The Jets entire powerplay for the first three years of Laine's career was built on setting Laine up for the one timer...and yes, he scored a ton of awesome goals just like he did last night. That's why he led the league in PP goals that season.

No point in making stuff up.

In the two 2017-2019 regular seasons, Laine scored 26 goals assisted by Wheeler. So about a third of his goals, despite how they didn't play on the same line 5v5. So yeah, maybe the reason why Jets fans said that Laine fans who thought Wheeler ignored Laine were hallucinating was because the evidence directly contradicts their hallucinating nonsense.

I really thought we were done with the nonsensical conspiracy theories from Laine fans 5 years ago. Are they still on this?

 

[MyNameIsTaken]

Do we really have people already talking about trying to flip him? Poor guy

 

[Marioesque]

He has six goals..... all on the powerplay.

Three goals 5 v 4, Three goals 5 v 3

The Habs are being outshot 49 to 22 and outscored 5 to 1, at 5v5 with him on the ice. On ice expected goals 27%.

Scoring on the PP is good, no doubt. Being terrible at 5v5 hockey isn't good.

He isn't the terrible in his 5 v 5 line.
His center has -22 in 31 games this year. Certainly wasn't doing any better before Laine got back.